NetworkNewsWire Editorial
Coverage: After running a poor second to the
internal combustion automobile for a century, the electric vehicle
(EV) now looks very likely to win the race. At the beginning of the
twentieth century, EVs were on track but they lost position to
gasoline automobiles. Now in America, in China and in Europe, EVs
are taking to the roads once again. And in response to a more
environmentally aware citizenry and government mandates, many car
manufacturers plan to phase out fossil-fueled vehicles and increase
output of EVs over the next two decades. The increasing adoption of
EVs is already beginning to raise demand for the metals that
comprise the batteries under their hoods. Chief of these is
lithium, naturally, since lithium-ion is the leading EV battery
technology. However, equally necessary, is the cobalt used in
lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) electrodes, one of the
most common lithium ion (Li-ion) technologies. As search for this
rare metal intensifies, cobalt miners like Quantum Cobalt
Corp. (CSE: QBOT) (FRA: 23B) eCobalt Solutions (OTCQB:
ECSIF) (TSE: ECS), First Cobalt Corporation (CVE: FCC), Fortune
Minerals Limited (OTCQX: FTMDF) (TSE: FT) and Freeport-McMoRan
(NYSE: FCX) are likely to see their share prices rise. In the
coming months, cobalt looks set to make fortunes.
One of the factors driving the shift to EVs has been the Paris
Climate Accord, an international effort to slow global warming by
reducing carbon emissions, which became effective on November 4,
2016. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has
estimated that transportation is responsible for fourteen percent
(14 percent) of global greenhouse gas emissions (http://nnw.fm/4G0m7). On November 7, Syria announced
it would sign the agreement, following Nicaragua, which said in
October it would join the Accord (http://nnw.fm/S0uWY). The Central American nation had,
initially, refused to sign because it wanted the Agreement to go
further. This leaves the U.S. as the only country rejecting the
pact. However, under its terms, which the White House said it will
respect, the soonest any country can withdraw from the landmark
agreement is November 4, 2020.
The Accord has prompted a series of initiatives across the
globe. Recently, China, France, Germany, India, Norway, the
Netherlands and the U.K. all announced measures intended to curb
carbon emissions. China, which has the world’s largest vehicle
market, is in the lead. With air pollution at crisis levels in
Beijing and other major cities, the Chinese government wants to see
vehicles using gasoline and diesel phased out. It also, it seems,
plans to dominate the global EV market, according to the LA Times. The government in India is facing similar
problems. India’s carbon emissions are rising: they rose almost 5
percent in 2016. But now there’s hope that trend will be reversed
by replacing fossil fuel cars with EVs by 2030. European nations
are also in the vanguard of this battle against global warming. The
Norwegian government has said, that after 2025, it will only allow
sales of vehicles that are 100 percent electric. And Germany is
following suit, albeit with a less rigorous schedule. It plans a
total ban on all internal combustion engines by 2030. In Britain, a
deadline has been set for 2040, after which time no cars powered by
petrol (gasoline) or diesel will be allowed. The Netherlands is
also considering similar plans, while France, the host of the
Accord, wants all petrol and diesel cars off its roads by 2040.
The big car manufacturers are already making plans to ramp up EV
production. Volkswagen, now the largest global automaker by sales,
is planning 30 new EV models by 2025. It hopes to garner annual
sales of between two and three million units by then. The company
has announced it will invest around $84 billion in batteries and
electric cars. In addition, No. 2 Toyota has formed a joint venture
with Mazda and Denso, the Japanese auto parts manufacturer, to
develop EV technologies for the future. The new company, called EV
Common Architecture Spirit Co. Ltd., will be 90 percent owned by
Toyota, with Mazda and Denso sharing the remaining 10 percent
equally. The joint venture will produce models based on Toyota’s
Prius and 2018 Camry. And Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, told
an investor conference on November 15 that the company plans to
launch a new EV platform
in 2021. The modular EV stereotype will be the basis for at least
20 new battery-powered vehicles by 2023 and will be flexible enough
to accommodate nine different body styles in multiple sizes,
segments and brands in the U.S., China and elsewhere. Meanwhile in
July, when Tesla delivered the first Model 3s off the line, its CEO
Elon Musk revealed the company had ‘over half a million advance
reservations’. The EV revolution seems unstoppable.
Bloomberg has estimated that EVs will enjoy a 2 percent share
of the auto market by 2020. This is expected to rise to 8 percent
by 2025, to 20 percent by 2030, and to at least 35 percent by 2040.
These statistics have fueled a great deal of anxiety in some
corners, with automakers scrambling to secure supplies. They have
also given rise to a very tight global cobalt market. Recently,
Volkswagen announced it had failed to secure a long-term supplier
for cobalt. In September, the German carmaker put out a tender
seeking a five-year supply of the strategic metal at a fixed price
but there were no takers at the offer price. Demand for cobalt is
expected to surge from 2k tonnes in 2017 to over 300k tonnes by
2030, a stupendous 14,900 percent increase that will see prices
reach record levels. With the battery industry currently uses 42
percent of global cobalt production, the question arises: where is
all this cobalt going to come from?
At present, about 97 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt is
a by-product of nickel or copper mining, mostly out of Africa. A
lot comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), home to
the largest cobalt asset in the world, the Tenke Fungurume mine.
However, political instability and charges that child labor is used
in the mines is putting pressure on producers to seek less
controversial sources. As a result, exploration companies are
turning to North America, and particularly Canada, in what must
seem like déjà vu, particularly in places like Cobalt, Ontario, so
named over a century ago after the mineral was discovered
there.
One such exploration outfit is Quantum Cobalt Corp.
(CSE: QBOT) (FRA: 23B),
which has interests in past producing mines with historic assays of
8.76 percent cobalt. Its Nipissing Lorrain Cobalt Project has
produced over 16,500 tons of cobalt, as well as 5,500 tons of
silver, in the past. The asset consists of 29 claim units covering
approximately 464 hectares. Quantum is also working the Rabbit
Cobalt property, located 14 km southeast of the town of Temagami
near the eastern border of Ontario. The property has in the past
produced cobalt assayed at 8.76 percent. A third project is the
Kahuna Cobalt-Silver mine, which comprises 77 claims over an area
of around 1,200 hectares, and is located 37 km south of Cobalt.
These are encouraging metrics considering that cobalt projects with
assays as low as 0.05 percent are considered viable. Quantum also
has gold projects underway at Grew Creek in the Yukon, Canada and
Musgrove Creek in Lemhi County, Idaho.
Driven by an experienced team, Quantum
Cobalt expects more than quantum success. The
company’s CEO is Greg Burns, who is also the Director of Mergers
and Acquisitions for Capital Investment Partners, a Western
Australian investment bank. Mr. Burns was previously Managing
Director of Xenolith, subsequently Coalspur Mines Ltd., acquired by
the Cline Group in 2015. He was also a director of White Canyon
Uranium before that company’s acquisition by Denison Mines in 2010.
The rest of Board Members include Ken Tollstam, CPA, formerly of
Deloitte Touche, Jerry Huang, CPA, MBA, who has worked in wealth
management and in mining, Von Torres, who brings experience in
corporate management services, and Quinn Field-Dyte, who comes with
a financial services background. Quantum Cobalt was previously
Bravura Ventures Corporation. Its name change became effective in
November 2017.
eCobalt has its primary asset in Idaho. The company claims its
Idaho Cobalt Project is the only advanced-stage, near term,
environmentally permitted, primary cobalt deposit in the United
States. The Idaho Cobalt Project is comprised of the Mine/Mill
(M/M) site located in Lemhi County, Idaho, near the town of Salmon,
Idaho and the Cobalt Production Facility (CPF), a stand-alone
hydrometallurgical facility located in Southern Idaho near the city
of Blackfoot. The CPF will process concentrates from the M/M into
cobalt, copper and gold end products. The project is slated to
produce the equivalent of 1,500 tons of high purity cobalt sulfate
annually over a projected mine life of 12.5 years.
Back in Canada, First Cobalt is currently advancing its
2,100-hectare Silver Centre, Ontario property, which includes the
former producing Keely-Frontier mine, a high-grade mine that has
produced over 3.3 million pounds of cobalt and 19.1 million ounces
of silver. First Cobalt, which pulled out of the DRC just months
after signing a copper and cobalt deal with the government, has
past-producing assets and a market capitalization of CAD$39
million, expected to reach CAD$156 million pending an
acquisition.
Meanwhile, Fortune Minerals is ploughing ahead with its NICO
Cobalt-Gold-Bismuth-Copper Project in Canada’s Northwest
Territories, which the company is positioning as a dedicated North
American cobalt asset. Freeport-McMoRan is also in hot pursuit of
the hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal. Together with Lundin Mining
Corporation and La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines),
it has formed Freeport Cobalt, which will operate the world’s
largest cobalt refinery, located in Kokkola, Finland. This will
link its global sales and marketing distribution network with
output from the Tenke Fungurume Mine in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC).
The attention cobalt is enjoying at present is pushing up share
prices. eCobalt (ECSIF) trading at around $0.40 a year ago has
appreciated by over 100 percent and is now at $0.84. First Cobalt
(FCC), down at $0.25 a year ago has gone up by 180 percent and
currently trades at $0.70. Fortune Minerals (FTMDF) has risen by 67
percent over the past twelve months, from $0.09 to $0.15. It seems
like Quantum Cobalt, may be undervalued. Quantum Cobalt
is “One to Watch”
Other players to keep your eye on:
Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) traded 15,328,018 shares and closed at
$ 13.86 on Friday.
eCobalt Solutions (OTCQB: ECSIF) traded 166,456 shares and closed
at $ 0.83 on Friday.
First Cobalt Corporation (CVE: FCC) traded 169,405 shares and
closed at $ 0.72 on Friday.
Fortune Minerals Limited (OTCQX: FTMDF) traded 401,789 shares and
closed at $ 0.15 on Friday.
For more information about the Quantum Cobalt please visit:
Quantum Cobalt
(CSE: QBOT)
Other Quantum Cobalt Articles:
Quantum Cobalt
is “One to Watch”
Cobalt Perfectly
Positioned As Global Cobalt Demand Surges
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